Chapter 8 - A Little Zest of Zaz (CF)
Kremvard was a quaint little island trapped in the frigid waters of the arctic. The island was primarily snow desert, with the temperatures rarely dropping low enough to melt the snow. Although it was the middle of Month Mushroom, and thus the warmest month, the latitude of Kremvard made it quite chilly. The Kremlings' had had the aptitiude to build their buildings and huts with quite firm and rigid lumber to withstand the pounds of snow that would no doubt arrive come Month Shell and the depths of winter. When Tubba arrived in Kremvard, he landed at the Kremlings' only settlement, a small town known as Roolkrim.The whole town was far above the docks, built with a circular surrounding fence with lookout posts posted every few hundred metres, some overlooking the sea and others looking out to the land beyond Roolkrim. The town itself was a collection of concrete sidewalks with wooden huts transposed around the area. Kremstag had accompanied Tubba to the town hall, where they encountered the town leader, an ornery, middle-aged yellow Kritter named Gorognaz. Gorognaz accepted Tubba into the settlement of Roolkrim grudgingly, only when forced to by Kremstag, clearly his superior. Gorognaz assigned Tubba to work in the town of Roolkrim on the defences - the lookout posts over the sea. He was also given one of the more recently constructed huts as a place to live in Roolkrim. Tubba could tell that most of the Kremlings did not trust him. A few, however, were friendly from the start, others were willing to work with him because of Kremstag's order, but others remained eternally frosty. Being a Clubba, however, he was more than able to pitch in and was not out his depth with Kritters. In the lookout tower overlooking the sea, Tubba had two Kritters to work with. One of the Kremlings who was friendly with him was a young, hulking red Kritter who worked with him on the defences of Kremvard. His name was Damarus, and he was easily the largest Kritter Tubba had ever seen. Kritters were normally slightly taller than the average Clubba, but Damarus was a full head and a half taller than Tubba, who was scrawny for a Clubba. Damarus and Tubba both worked in the same section, on one of the lookout towers overlooking the frigid waters of the ocean, keeping an eye out for any enemies that would approach Kremvard from sea. Their third member was an average-sized green Kritter with a lazy eye named Roaghis. Roaghis was the definition of the Kritter who would only accept Tubba because of Kremstag's orders - Kremstag had had to come up to their lookout tower and threaten Roaghis before Roaghis would work with Damarus and Tubba. Tubba asked Damarus one day why they needed to bother keeping an eye out for enemies in the water approaching Kremvard. Damarus, in his slightly-sarcastic way, explained that the geography of Kremvard left it open to both Zaz and Waffle excursions beyond their waters. If Kremvard was found, the Kremlings would do anything to keep it. If they sighted an enemy ship, they would ring a trumpet-like device which would alert the town officials such as Gorognaz. The town officials would then assemble most of the town and head down to the docks, where they would board ships and be prepared to fend off the enemy. As for the lookouts, it was a fifteen minute run into the centre of town, and so Tubba and Damarus would be expected to make the run and help protect the town as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it was sooner rather than later that Damarus and Tubba would have to make the run. Tubba had barely been in Roolkrim for two weeks when a ship appeared on the horizon - bearing the insignia of the Zaz Kingdom proudly, that of two horns and clawscratches. Damarus sounded the trumpet, and Tubba had already leapt out of the tower, raced down the ladder and was waiting for Damarus on the ground. Roaghis would stay in the tower, as they practiced, and continue ringing the trumpet. "What do you reckon this is?" Tubba questioned Damarus as the Kritter joined his side. "The Zaz Kingdom causing trouble. They've never come this close to Kremvard." Damarus responded in his husky voice, beginning to open his shapely legs into long, confident strides toward the centre of town. Behind him, Tubba struggled to keep up with his short, stubby legs. Clubbas were designed to take blows and outlast their opponent in battle, not to run! "They must think this is new land." Nearly tripping over Karubba's club in his effort to keep up with Damarus' long, effortless strides, Tubba lapsed into a state of anxiety. He had last encountered the Zaz Kingdom sixteen years ago, when he had in fact had a hand in the death of their current King, Hareth Zazai. If he was to be caught by the Zaz Kingdom... if they held an outlying grudge... Tubba had not escaped Glitzville and the Waffles merely to be persecuted by someone else. Sounds of explosions were heard while they were still running across the paths to town. Glancing back at the sea, Tubba could see that a Kremling ship and the Zaz ship had engaged. Beyond what they had believed to be the sole Zaz ship, next to an iceberg, was a fleet of Zaz ships. They had come prepared for an assault on Kremvard. Tubba could see the other Kremling ships racing across the dark waters to confront the Zaz ships in combat. There was a naval battle due in Kremvard for control of the arctic. Damarus and Tubba raced into the centre of town a few minutes later, joining a collection of Kritters who were milling in the centre square of the town. From their position in the town, they could see the vicious battle between the two fleets of ships, cannonballs flying from each ship, nailing the hulls and caving them in, fires being set by marauders leaping from deck to deck, merciless battles taking place between the large Iglators, claws bared and horns impaling, and the fercious Kritters, swinging their fists and spiked maces. "How did the Zazites know to come prepared? This isn't just a mere scouting excursion out of their archipelago." One Kritter nearby to Tubba muttered, casting a suspicious glance at Tubba. Another Kritter murmured agreement. "Someone must've tipped them off." To Tubba's horror, the Kremlings were beginning to turn their suspicious gazes onto him, the only non-Kritter in the pack. Tubba felt sickeningly small as the burly creatures began to question his loyalty to Kremvard. The crowd was craving for someone to stir the hate against Tubba, and that person was due. "We can't trust a bloody Clubba!" A large blue Kritter who leapt up onto the stone where Gorgognaz usually made speeches to the entire town, screamed into the crowd, met with a chorus of approval and further angry glances at Tubba. Damarus and Tubba exchanged an anxious glance as the blue Kritter continued from the stone in front of the crowd: "Let's take him out, my Kritter friends!" Kritters were not a species known for their thinking. The mob mentality was sweeping them up, and although Tubba and Damarus were at the very back of the crowd, Tubba felt claustrophobic as, as one rippling entity, the group of Kritters turned to face Tubba. The blue Kritter, now staring directly at Tubba, sounding quite deranged, screamed: "Take him! And show no remorsefulness to any Kritter who stands with him!" "Hey, let's think of this log-" Damarus stepped forward as the first wave of Kritters began to rush towards Tubba, who was standing stock-still with shock. One of the leading Kritters growled, "Screw off, Damarus," and knocked him to the ground with a burly bicep, and continued his route to Tubba, hardly missing a stride. Tubba barely had time to brace Karubba's club before the onslaught was upon him. He blocked the first blow from the same Kritter who had taken down Damarus, blocked a second blow from another Kritter, but soon, the angry faces blended into one, and Tubba was wearing blows from all sides. He felt agony lance up his shoulder as one Kritter dug a spiked mace into it, tearing out his bloodred scales, he felt the dull pain of his tailstub pulsing as a Kritter delivered a furious kick to it, he barely could weather the harrowing punch to his ribs, feeling his body give one way, only to be punched the next. Blood spurted across his face as another fist met his face, with his left arm held back by yet another Kritter. Before Tubba could begin to block a blow he saw approaching from still another foot, a stab of searing pain in his head accompanied a flash of white light. Feeling the spiked mace that had dug into his skull rip out from the top of his head, tearing out his white hair and red scales in the process, Tubba saw the world before him blur, no longer becoming a collection of angry snouts of Kritters, but merely a collection of colours. The pain racing through his head and his body overrode everything, before he became vaguely aware of his body collapsing on the hard concrete. That was the last thing Tubba knew before everything went black.